Carmen Maria Machado’s absorbing and brilliantly unorthodox account of an abusive relationship is due for publication in the UK on 2nd January 2020.
LGBTQ
BOOK REVIEW: Conversations with Wilde: A Fictional Dialogue Based on Biographical Facts
Imagined by Oscar Wilde’s own grandson, this fictionalised conversation presents a fascinating biography of the poet, playwright and gay martyr.
BOOK REVIEW: Crimson
Crimson is a tale of love, lust, despondency and queer life in modern Greenland.
BOOK REVIEW: Disbanded Kingdom
A 21st-century coming-of-age story, set against the emotive backdrop of the United Kingdom’s breakaway from the European Union and its threatened rupture with Scotland.
BOOK REVIEW: The Great Believers
A powerful novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris.
BOOK REVIEW: Orchid & the Wasp
A dark but highly amusing coming-of-age story, which encompasses sexuality, mental health, class, religion and contemporary politics. Caoilinn Hughes has written a stunningly ambitious debut novel.
BOOK REVIEW: Swan Song
A deft, dazzling, diligently researched debut about a literary icon and his beautiful, wealthy, spoiled Swans.
BOOK REVIEW: White Houses
The story of an unexpected and forbidden love affair that developed between America’s First Lady and a well-known female journalist.
BOOK REVIEW: Ayiti
This debut collection from Roxane Gay is a unique blend of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, all interwoven to represent the Haitian diaspora experience.
BOOK REVIEW: The House of Impossible Beauties
Cassara’s novel follows the often complicated lives of several homogeneous characters from House of Xtravaganza, one of the most famous and enduring ‘drag houses’ of New York.
BOOK REVIEW: Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection has marked her out as an effervescent talent in fermentation.
SHORT FICTION REVIEW: The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere
A heart-warming and original short story.
BOOK REVIEW: Aphra Behn: A Secret Life
Behn is celebrated for being one of the first English women to earn a living from her pen. She courageously shattered many cultural conventions of her day, while in some ways remaining in step with her times.
THOUGHTS ON: Tove Jansson Life, Art, Words: The Authorised Biography
Tove Jansson, author of the Moomins and one of the great idiosyncratic talents of the 20th century, must surely have found her ideal biographer in Boel Westin.